The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Spalding homes were evacuated on Monday after a Womble and history buff pulled a live grenade from the Coronation Channel.
Chris Dark, of Weston, was magnet fishing around St Paul’s Bridge at around 4pm when he reeled in the explosive device, thought to date back to World War Two.
The Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team were called in to make the device safe.
Magnet fishing involves using industrial strength magnets to pick bits of metal up from the riverbeds.
Chris got involved in it through metal detecting and as well as feeding his passion for history, it doubles with his commitment to the Wombles of Spalding Common initiative that’s helping to clean up the local area.
The father-of-three says that it’s through his history knowledge that he new instantly he was dealing with a live grenade.
“It was just an adrenaline rush really,” Chris said of noticing the grenade on his magnet. “I guess I was shocked but I was also pretty calm.
“Straight away I phoned my wife Chloe as I didn’t know what to do.
“Then I thought I had to phone the police because I could see it was live and still had the pin in it.
“The police came and then came the wait for the bomb squad.
“I’ve seen people on You Tube pulling out guns and things like that, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone pull out a grenade.
“I’ve pulled a lot of knives out from the rivers but that doesn’t excite me, it just makes me feel sick.
“This was the item I’ve pulled out that’s given me the biggest adrenaline rush, but I do now think I’m lucky as just by moving it with the magnet it could have blown.
“I spoke to a police officer and he said they find a lot of grenades in Skegness as they get washed up on the shore but that they didn’t think they had found one in Spalding before.”
South Holland Police thanked local residents for their patience as the area around the bridge was cornered off until the EOD squadron made the area safe.
Chris is set to continue the hobby that feeds his passion for history and helps clear up the area’s waterways at the same time.
“I like history and thought it’d be more fun than metal detecting,” he said.
“I’ve been looking around rivers around Spalding and you can find all kinds of interesting things.
“I just like finding things such bolts and wondering what the history is behind them.
“You do pull out a lot of bikes and their locks and yesterday I also pulled out a massive railing that must have been part of the bridge at some point.
“I usually recycle it, though I do like my railway memorabilia and keep anything I find relating to that. I’ve found a few signs before.”
